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SKETCH 



LIFE AND TIMES 



DR. DAVID RAY 



Holiev,, G B. 




BOSTON: 

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 

1881. 



In Exch. 
Wi«. Hist. Soc. 







TO 



JOHN C. FERNALD, 

HOPING IT MAY INTEREST HIM, AND BE CONSIDERED WORTHY 
OF PRESERVATION, 

®iljis JfrEgmeiit oi ^^fiimilg |)istory 



AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. 

G.' B. H. 

MiLLSTON, Wis,, 
Ma)^, 1881. 



S DAVID RAY, fe: 



The son of Samuel and Elizabeth, was born in Wrentham, 
Mass., Sept. 7, 1742. His mother's name, before her 
marriaofe, was Tuell. His o:randfather's name was also 
Samuel, and his grandmother's maiden name was Miriam 
Smith. Both his father and his grandfather had large fam- 
ilies, and both resided in Wrentham. The children of this 
second Samuel, and his wife Elizabeth, were David, Eliza- 
beth, y cms ha, Samuel, Miriam, Milatiah, ycmima, Hepzi- 
bah and RacJiel (9) . 

David married Eunice Whiting, daughter of Eliphalet 
Whiting, Esq., a man of considerable wealth, who resided in 
Wrentham. Mr. Whiting's wife's maiden name was Abigail 
Mann. After Mr. Ray's marriage, Nov. 15, 1770, they re- 
sided in a part of Wrentham known as " Honey Pot," — so 
called on account of the many bees kept there, and the large 
quantity of honey made. The children of David and Eunice 
Ray were four daughters, as follows : — 

Eunice born Oct. 15, 1771, married Dan Morse. 

Polly " Oct. 11,1773, " John Holden. 

Betsey Whiting " Oct. 3, 1781, " .... Timothy Fernald. 

Abigail Mann . " Nov. 10, 1790, " Henry Holden. 



HIS MILITAR V RECORD. 

In the excited period immediately preceding the Revolu- 
tion, Mr. Ray was Lieutenant of a company of State Militia. 
He was commissioned for the Eastern District of Wrentham, 
under date of Aug. ii, 1771. At the breaking out of the 
war he belonged to a company of ''Minute-men," in which he 
was Sergeant. On the memorable 19th of April, 1775, the 
day of the first blood shed at Lexington, his company was 
ordered into action, and marched from Wrentham, mustered 
for ten days' service. 

His next service was a six months' campaign under Gen. 
Gates, at Ticonderoga, in 1776. In this campaign he was also 
Company Sergeant. The company was commanded by 
Capt. Lewis Whiting, and belonged to Col. Wheelock's 
regiment. Capt. Whiting was, no doubt, Mrs. Ray's 
brother, as she had a brother Lewis and a brother John. 

After the above-named campaign, Mr. Ray received a 
Lieutenant's commission, and was in service, in what is 
known in history as the " Secret Expedition to Rhode 
Island," in 1777. During this service he was in Capt. 
Ezekiel Plympton's company, in Col. Benjamin Hawes's 
regiment, and was member of a court-martial convened at 
Little Compton, R. I., Oct. 12, 1777, as appears by an official 
paper, signed by Col. Hawes, left among Mr. Ray's effects. 
Mr. Enoch Spurr was a member of the same company. 

The next year after he was in Capt. Munroe's company, 
Col. Sproat's regiment, for the term of three months' 
service; and afterwards four months in Capt. Moses Bui- 



lard's company, in Col. Jacob's regiment ; both the last- 
named terms of service in the State of Rhode Island. He 
was also in the service somewhere in the spring of 1779, ^s 
appears by a paper found in the State Treasurer's Office of 
Massachusetts, which I now have, and is as follows : — 

" Boston, March 5, 1779. 
" To the Hon. Henry Gardner, Esq., State Treasurer : 

** Sir, — Please pay to Abner Cram the wages due me as specified in my Rolls, 
bearing date March 5, 1779, and his receipt shall be your discharge. 
" From your humble servant, 

" David Ray, Lieiitejianty 

By the foregoing, it appears he was in the service the 
larger part of the first five years of the war. He was now 
38 years of age, had a family, a wife and two daughters, from 
whom he had been absent most of the time for five years, and 
whom it was his duty to support. The Continental money 
which he received for his services had depreciated till forty 
dollars in bills would bring but one dollar in specie. "A 
pair of boots," says our school history, " cost six hundred 
dollars." And a '' soldier's pay for a month would hardly buy 
him a dinner." (Barnes's School History.) No doubt he got 
tired of war's alarms, with its toils and hardships and no pay. 
A company of men in Boston and its vicinity owned a town- 
ship of land in Maine, and held out inducements for families 
to go there and settle. Mr. Ray made a journey of explora- 
tion in the fall of 1779, and concluded to move his family 
into the new district. Mrs. Ray received a pension from the 
Government, on account of his military services, at the rate 
of one hundred and three dollars per annum, from March 4, 
1831, until the time of her death, July 4, 1843. In granting 



10 

the pension, the commissioner only allowed about one year's 
service in all. But the service, as above narrated, is well 
established by record evidence and oral testimony. 

THE FIRST SETTLERS. 

Just before the Revolutionary War, an act was passed in 
the General Court of Massachusetts granting a township of 
land to the ''heirs of Capt. John Gorham, for services ren- 
dered against Canada in 1690, provided they settle thirty 
families and a learned Protestant minister in the new town 
within five years." The proprietors all resided in Massachu- 
setts — in Boston, Groton, Woburn, Watertown, Wrentham, 
etc. — and they held frequent proprietors' meetings to advance 
the settlement of their new town. But it was more than 
three years after the confirmation of the grant by the Legis- 
lature when the first settlement was made. 

George Peirce, Esquire, grandfather of Hon. George 
Peirce, now living in Harrison, was the pioneer. Mr. Peirce 
came in 1775 from Groton, and built a saw-mill on Crooked 
River, at Peirce's Falls, now Edes's Falls. Benjamin Patch, 
the father of Levi and Tarbell, came the next year, also 
from Groton, then unmarried, but in a few years married 
Mr Peirce's daughter, and settled on the lot where Capt. 
Levi Patch since lived, now owned by Cyrus Morse. Daniel 
Cobb, the father of Elder William Gorham Cobb, came from 
Gorham, Me., in 1778, and settled on the east side of Crooked 
River, about a mile above Mr. Peirce's place. His son, 
Elder Wm. G. Cobb, was the first male child born in Otis- 
field, — born Oct. 14, 1779. 



II 

Joseph Spurr, the grandfather of Mrs. Joseph Knight and 
Miss Sally Spurr, both now living, came in 1779, in Septem- 
ber, and settled on lot No. JJ, just south of Spurr's Corner. 
He moved from Wrentham, in 1776, to Mansfield, Me., thence 
to Windham, and thence to Otisfield. His children were 
Joseph, Jr., EnocJi, William, Samuel, Robert, Polly, ycmima, 
Sally, Lydia. 

Major Jonathan Moors came, in 1779, from Wrentham, 
and located on the place since owned by George P. Holden. 
He afterwards built the house where Merrill Knight since 
lived and kept public-house. Samuel Reed, the grandfather 
of William, came the same year and settled on the place 
where William Reed now lives. Mr. Reed came from Groton 
to Machias, then he moved to Windham, and thence to Otis- 
field. He was killed by lightning a few years after in the 
town of Windham. 

Mr. Ray came in 1780, in the spring, and had reached the 
town of Windham, and was stopping for a few days'rest at 
Noah Reed's, when occured the memorable Dark Day (May 
19), when candles were brought on to the table at dinner- 
time. He first located about half a mile from Esquire Peirce, 
on the west side of Crooked River, now in the town of Naples. 
Here he made a clearing, built a house, and planted apple- 
trees. There was an open meadow on his lot, sixty rods 
from the house where he cut hay ; and his two eldest daugh- 
ters, Eunice and Polly, then ten and eight years old, hauled 
hay from the meadow on a hand-sled. 

I visited the place in 1880, just a hundred years after Mr. 
Ray settled there, and saw the ruins of the old house and 
cellar, and some apple-trees. The land has a gentle southern 



12 

slope, but its principal attraction is a running brook, whose 
merry laughter, as musical to-day as it was a century ago, 
can be plainly heard where the house stood. The brook is 
twenty rods west of the house, and courses its artless way 
down the sloping declivity over moss-grown rocks, south- 
ward to the meadow. What joyous music is there in the 
falling waters of a running brook ! and who would not wish 
that his home might ever be by the side of a stream of clear 
running water .'' Here, in the old house, now long gone to 
decay, Mr. Ray's third daughter Betsey was born, Oct. 3, 
1 78 1, the first female child born in Otisfield who lived to 
womanhood.* 

Before coming to Otisfield, Mr. Ray, no doubt, had con- 
versation with the proprietors of the town about building a 
grist-mill, and had agreed to build if he could find a suitable 
site. This is presumed from the proprietors' records. There 
was no grist-mill in Otisfield and the nearest one was at 
Capt. Dingley's, in ''Raymond Town." A mill for grinding 
corn and rye would be a great public benefit and encourage 
settlement in the new town. The proprietors often had the 
subject under consideration, and about a month before Mr. 
Ray came, chose a committee to agree with some suitable 
person about building. 

He soon found a mill site at the outlet of Saturday Pond, 
and built a grist-mill, which was in operation as early as 

* " Common report " says Jonathan Moors's daughter Sally, afterwards Mrs. 
Henry Turner, was the first. But she was born May i, 1782, seven months 
after Mr. Ray's daughter. 

A family by the name of Sawtelle had buried an infant daughter earlier and 
moved away. 



13 

1 78 1. At first, he set apart two clays in each week when he 
would grind. At such times he came up, staid the two days, 
and ground for such as came and then returned to his family. 
This was his practice for about two years, and then he moved 
his family up and lived in a log house, where Moses Spiller 
now lives. The date of his removal was May 6, 1783, accord- 
ing to Mr. Samuel Knight's Diary. They moved with oxen 
and cart as far as Mr. Patch's place, where they exchanged 
the cart for an ox-sled. No road had been cut farther, — all 
beyond was an unbroken forest. People came from Norway 
for a good many years to Mr. Ray's mill, so says the " History 
of Norway." And beyond doubt they came from South Paris 
and Hebron, now Oxford. 

A few years after, Mr. Ray built a saw-mill by agreement 
with the proprietors of the town. The contract to build the 
saw-mill was entered into at Groton, Sept. 6, 1786, the mill 
to be done within one year from that date. For building 
these two mills he received a deed of the '' Mill Lot," so called, 
and two fractional lots lying on Saturday Pond. About this 
time a movement was made to organize some sort of local 
town government, and a petition was drawn up and signed 
as follows : — 

"To George Peirce, Esq., one of the Justices of the Peace for the County of 
Cumberland, Commonwealth of Massachusetts : We, the subscribers, being 
five of the inhabitants of the Plantation of Otisfield, do hereby apply to you 
Honor for a warrant to call a meeting of the inhabitants of said plantation at 
the dwelling-house of Dea. Stephen Phinney, in Otisfield, on Tuesday, ye 15th 
day of May next, at ten o'clock, a.m., to act on the following questions, to wit : 

" ist. To choose a Moderator. 

*' 2d. To choose a Plantation Clerk. 

** 3d. To choose Selectmen. 



14 

"4th. To choose Assessors, and to do such other business as the inhabitants 
may think necessary. 

(Signed) David Ray, 

Benjamin Patch, 
Joseph Hancock, 
Jonathan Moors, 
"Dated April 23, 1787. Samuel Gammon." 

This was the first pubHc meeting for town purposes held 
in Otisfield. And there was not then to exceed thirty fam- 
iHes in town, if so many. At that first plantation meeting 
Mr. Ray was chosen Moderator, and Joseph Wight, Jr., 
Plantation Clerk; David Ray, Benjamin Patch, and Noah 
Reed, Assessors, and Jonathan Moors Collector. Though 
they elected assessors and collector, they didn't assess any 
money tax for several years. They made an assessment of 
highway taxes, which were worked out on the roads. But 
working on the road at that time, and for nearly twenty 
years after, meant cutting down trees, cutting away stumps, 
and getting the larger stones out of the way for ox-carts. 
No ploughing was done on the road earlier than 1804. 

TOWN OFFICES. 

From the time of the first plantation meeting, Mr. Ray 
was elected to some town office for many years. He was 
one of the assessors as follows: In 1787, 'SS, '89, '90, '91, 
'92, '93, '95, '96, '97, '98, and 1804. In 1794 the plantation 
elected a treasurer for the first time, and made choice of Mr. 
Ray. He was Moderator at town and plantation meetings 
in 1787, 'S^, '89, '90, '91, '92, '93, '95, '98, '99, 1806 and 
1809, and perhaps more. 



15 

In 1794, the plantation having no representative, Mr. Ray 
was elected to present a petition to the General Court for 
the abatement of taxes. In 18 10 he was elected to represent 
his district in the General Court of Massachusetts. In 181 2, 
Sept. 2, a town meeting was called " to take in consideration 
the distressed situation of our country," and to elect a del- 
egate to the convention at Gray, called at the request of the 
selectmen of the town of North Yarmouth, when Mr. Ray 
was elected delegate. The following were elected a commit- 
tee to draft resolutions : — 

Dr. Silas Blake; Esquire Grinfill Blake; Dr. David Ray; 
Capt. Daniel Holden ; Mr. Benjamin Wight. 

The meeting adjourned to meet again on the 7th of Sep- 
tember, at which time the inhabitants met and adopted the 
resolutions reported by the committee, and voted to send a 
copy to the Portland Gazette for publication* 

This may have been about the last of Mr. Ray's public 
service. He was nov/ seventy years of age, and for twenty- 
five years had been much in public office. He was fre- 
quently a committee of one on building or repairing bridges, 
for the sale of ministerial and school lands, etc. Let us now 
go back, and resume the narrative of his 

* I have never been able to find any copy of the Portland Gazette containing 
the above-named resolutions, and it has been a good deal of a query in my mind 
what the " distressing condition " was which our honored forefathers thought 
they could affect, or which they were called to act upon in the town of Otisfield. 







The cut shows Mr. Ray's log house in the centre, with the school-room 
attached, and the two-story frame house on the right, in which Mr. Roby was 
installed as pastor of the first church in Otisfield, since occupied by Mr. Henry 
Holden. 



17 



PRIVATE LIFE. 

In 1795 he built a frame addition to his log house, for a 
school-room, and employed Major William Swann, at his own 
expense, to teach. This was the first school ever taught in 
Otisfield, and it was several years before the first town school 
was started on the hill. The school was intended for the 
benefit of Mr. Ray's daughters, and though the eldest was 
married, she was a regular attendant. A few others besides 
his daughters were also members of the school. Writing- 
paper was scarce and expensive, and his daughters made 
books of birch bark, on which they had copies, and learned to 
write. 

The first valuation of the town was taken in April, 1795, 
and is an interesting document. The ten highest on the 
list were as follows : — 

David Ray £\t^2 

George Peirce 126 

Benjamin Patch 119 

Mark Knight 112 

Jonathan Moors 86 

David Kneeland 86 

Joseph Gates 85 \os. 

Joseph Wight 71 

Joseph Spurr 69 

David Mayberry 55 

The pound was equal to ^3.33.1-3, and reducing pounds to 
dollars, we find Mr. Ray's valuation was ^440. But it must 
be borne in mind that values have changed very much since 
that time. In this valuation Mr. Ray had a house, barn, 



i8 

saw-mill, grist-mill, fifteen acres improved land, and two hun- 
dred and forty acres unimproved land, all valued together at 
$26^. And of personal property : one yoke of oxen, two 
cows, four neat cattle, four swine, twenty pounds in money, 
half a ton of hay, and ten bushels of potatoes, all valued at 
1^177. On a list of over seventy persons, tax-payers, the 
highest valuation in town was ^440. I am unable to say 
just what such property would be worth to-day; probably 
;^3,ooo, or more. At that time men did not accumulate 
wealth so fast as now. Then there were no millionnaires in 
the country, and a man possessed of a few thousand dollars 
was considered rich. When a young man, Mr. Ray worked 
out for ^40 a year; and being found a faithful and industri- 
ous servant, his employer gave him a pair of thick shoes 
extra, worth seventy-five cents. 

Mr. Ray was public-spirited in the sphere in which he 
moved. He gave an acre of ground for a meeting-house site 
and for town purposes — the first meeting-house in town — 
and a lot adjoining it for a public cemetery. He built the 
frame of the meeting-house under contract with the proprie- 
tors of the town, entered into at Groton, Jan. 3, 1795, for 
which he received £$1; and he took so much interest in 
its construction that when it was done he owned six pews in 
it, as appears by his account-book, and Jive at the time of 
his death, as appears by the inventory of his estate. Not 
that he wanted so many pews, but being committee-man on 
finishing the house, he furnished materials and paid the 
carpenters, and accepted the pews in settlement of his claims. 
The frame of the meeting-house was raised in 1795. 

The same year Mr. Ray built a new two-story frame house 



19 

for his family, which was a fortress for strength. The timber 
was mostly eight inches square, and it was boarded with oak 
plank two inches thick, firmly pinned on to plates and sills 
with oaken pins. The heaviest winds never shook it. But 
the greatest marvel in it was the brick chimney, which was 
about fifteen feet square in the lower story, and had three 
large open fireplaces and two brick ovens. The largest fire- 
place, that in the kitchen, would take in wood six feet long ; 
and each of the ovens were large enough for a village bakery. 
In this house the First Congregational Church was organized, 
and Rev. Thomas Roby installed its pastor. This was Nov. 
23, 1797. At that time there was no frame house on the 
hill, and but few in town. 

On the town records Mr. Ray is generally called Lieuten- 
ant ; in a few instances, only, is he called Doctor. He was 
the first physician settled in Otisfield ; and it was many 
years before the settlement of the first physician in Bridgeton. 
Just how he obtained his medical education, or how much 
medical education he had, is unknown. Mr. Benjamin 
Wight used to say he studied with Dr. Mann, of Wrentham ; 
but Mr. Ray's daughter Abigail didn't know with whom he 
studied. She said he lived with Dr. Mann awhile before he 
was married, and was under treatment for some difficulty in 
his stomach. It may be said, in this connection, that Mr. 
Wight was born and brought up in the same town, viz., 
Wrentham, and was acquainted with Mr. Ray from boyhood. 
Perhaps Dr. Mann put it into his mind to be a doctor, and 
assisted him in his studies. Mr. Ray had the common 
medical text-books of his day, which he brought from Massa- 
chusetts, and with which he was familiar. 



20 

Mr. Ray was of a quiet disposition, slow and deliberate in 
his movements, and never excited to anger. He possessed 
much kindness of heart, and was good to the poor and the 
unfortunate. If people came to mill, as they sometimes did 
after he had retired, he got up and ground their grists without 
a murmur. When poor people came to mill he often 
ground without pay. 

He had a habit of saying to his youngest daughter, Abigail, 
whom he always called Nabby, '' Nabby, you must be good to 
strangers, for thereby you may entertain angels unawares." 
If he saw his neighbor fallen by the wayside, as was some- 
times the case in those days, he lifted him up, set him upon 
his own saddle, and assisted him home. If a man was down 
he did not pass by on the other side, but gave him a helping 
hand. Old people say that boys would sometimes enter his 
orchard and club the apple-trees, when the old gentleman 
would quietly look up at them and pass on. He died 
Dec. I, 1822, aged 80 years and 84 days. The inscrip- 
tion on his headstone reads : " Industry, Frugality, and Econ- 
omy were his leading traits of character," which is a truthful 
witness as far as it goes. But it ought to include benevo- 
lence, as his character has been handed down to us, and read, — 
" Benevolence, Industry, Frugality and Economy were leading 
traits in his character." 

Mrs. Eunice Ray was a woman of genial and sunny dis- 
position, who looked at the bright side of life, and made those 
around her cheerful and happy. Of settled religious convic- 
tions, she lived daily in accordance with her belief, and 
brought up her family in the fear and admonition of the 
Lord. She was an excellent horsewoman, and rode much on 



21 

horseback, as did all her daughters. She made frequent 
journeys to Portland, and once, or more, she went as far as 
Wrentham in the saddle. There was no wagon-road in town 
for more than twenty-five years of their residence here, and 
during that time all travelling was done in the saddle. She 
made all the cloth for the family, for both male and female 
wear. She was a skilful weaver, and wrought many kinds 
of curious goods for herself and her daughter's wear, and for 
Mr. Ray, and for bedding and table use ; and her well- 
trained fingers could spin t\\Q fi?iest quality of linen thread. 

It was her custom, several times a day, to retire by herself 
to an upper chamber, and offer up her prayers in secret to 
her Heavenly Father. Towards the close of her life, in her 
old age, her prayers consisted mostly of passages of Scripture 
which she had committed to memory. One favorite passage 
which she often repeated on her bended knees was : " Come 
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you," etc., to the end. 
As our Heavenly Father regards the condition of the heart 
rather than any set form of words, I believe her prayers were 
acceptable, and she had her reward. She lived to a ripe old 
age, and passed quietly away without sickness or pain. It 
was the ebbing out of life, like the drying up of a running 
brook, whose waters, absorbed by the sun, diminish day by 
day until the brook ceases to flow. She retained all her 
faculties until near the close, except the memory of her own 
age. When asked by visitors how old she was, she would 
answer, *' E'en a'most ninety-seven." This was when she 
was really ninety-four, and some of the family would correct 
her, saying, " Grandmother, you are only ninety-four." And 



22 

she would answer, " Well, I suppose I was mistaken ; you 
may have it your own way." An hour after, when asked the 
same question again, she would answer, as before, *' E'en 
a'most ninety-Seven." In her own mind she grew no older. 
When she was ninety-five she would walk to the neighbors a 
third of a mile off, and back again. She died July 4, 1843, 
and was then, indeed, as she had often said, "E'en a'most 
ninety-seven," lacking only thirty-eight days of that remark- 
able age. She was buried by the side of her husband, on 
Meeting-House Hill, in the lot donated by Mr. Ray for a 
public cemetery. 

RA V MEETING. 

A MEETING of the descendants of Dr. David and Eunice 
Ray was held at the old homestead in Otisfield, Sept. 7, 
1867, being the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary 
of Dr. Ray's birth. The meeting was called to order by 
Eli Fernald, Esq. Hon. Alpheus S. Holden was elected 
President, and Grinfill B. Holden Secretary. Mr. Otis 
Fernald read an appropriate hymn, which was sung, after 
which Elder James Libbey made a prayer invoking the Lord 
to bless the assembly. Mr. Otis Fernald then introduced 
the descendants present as follows : — 

Joseph Scribner* and 

Clarissa Scribner,* his wife. 

Eunice Scribner, their daughter. 

Col. Levi Holden* and 

Anna Holden (Miss Leach),* his wife 

Mrs. Charlotte Bird. 



Mrs. Eunice Moors.* 

Hon. Alpheus S. Holden. 

James C. Moors and 

Ella L. Moors *(Miss Nichols), his wife. 

Clara Moors, \ 

Frank Moors> ) 

Children of Benjamin and Eunice. 
* Died since. 



23 



David R. Morse.* 

Albion K. P. Morse, son of David. 

James Chase * and 

Miriam Chase, his wife. 

Otis Fernald and 

Sally Fernald, his wife. 

Daniel Chase * and 

Betsey Chase, his wife. 

Sarah E. Chase, their daughter. 

Eli Fernald and 

Sarah E. (Goodwin), his wife. 

Charlotte E. Fernald, ) 

Emily P. Fernald, ) 

Daughters of Eli. 
Emily Fernald. 
John C. Fernald and 
Sarah A. (Hunting), his wife. 
Granville Fernald and 
Elizabeth (Walker),* his wife. 
Amie E. Fernald, ) 
Ellen May Fernald, ) 

Daughters of Granville. 
Nathaniel S. Fernald and 
Susie J. (Wiggins), his wife. 
Frederick Lincoln Fernald. 
Herbert Fernald. 
Lewis Wight and 
Sarah C. Wight, his wife. 
Georgie Wight, daughter of Lewis. 
Nettie Fernald, daughter of Eli. 
Henry Holden * and 
Abigail M. Holden,* his wife. 
David R. Holden. 
Mrs. Rose C. Holden, widow of Al 

mon. 

*Died 



lan, >- 
11 man. ) 



Esther Cushman, daughter of David 
R. Holden. 

Ansel Cushman, her husband. 

Etta F. Cushman, 

Emma F. Cushman, 

Harrison L. Cushman, 

Children of Esther and Ansel. 

David L. Holden, son of David R. 

Josephine (Jackson), his wife,* 

Ada Holden, their daughter.* 

Hattie Belle Holden, youngest daugh- 
ter of David R. 

Benjamin T. Holden and 

Mehitable (Scribner),* his wife. 

Anson J. Holden, son of Benjamin. 

Delphina (Linnei), his wife. 

Gertrude Holden, their daughter. 

Henrietta Holden, 

Georgie Holden, 

Daughters of Benjamin. 

Joseph W. Holden. 

Henry Holden, Jr., and 

Elizabeth A. (Wight), his v/ife. 

Edward F. Holden, son of Henry. 

Grinfill B. Holden. 

Abigail R. Smith.* 

Clara E. Smith, \ 

Charles H. Smith, > 

Willie F. Smith, ) 

Children of Abigail and W.C. Smith. 

Moses Spiller and 

Elizabeth (Holden), his wife. 

Frank Spiller, 

Nellie Spiller, 

Children of Moses and Lizzie. 

since. 



24 

The process of introductions being ended, long tables were 
spread in the different' rooms of the old mansion, namely: 
The ''Great Room," or parlor. The ''Little Room," 
being Dr. and Mrs. Ray's private room, and the old " Long 
Kitchen." The tables were bounteously supplied with food 
prepared by the ladies; dinner was announced by the Presi- 
dent, the company was seated at the different tables, the 
Divine blessing was invoked by Elder James Libbey, and the 
people partook of a sumptuous repast. After dinner the 
company enjoyed themselves in social conversation, in 
making new acquaintances or renewing old ones at their 
pleasure, and separated late in the afternoon with the feeling 
that it was a day to be remembered. 

In the fourteen years which have passed since that gather- 
ing, quite a number who were then present, whose age and 
social relations rendered them conspicuous objects of our 
regard, have passed over the river. Of these were Henry 
Holden, and his wife Abigail H olden. Joseph ScjHbner, and 
Clarissa his wife.- Col. Levi Holden^ and his wife Anna, 
David R. Morse, Mrs. Eunice Moors, y antes Chase, 2ind Daiiiel 
Chase. Besides those above named, several of a younger 
generation have passed away. 



£D 104 



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r2i ^LA. 



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